Its not a Religious Statement, Its a Cultural Statement!!!

I would like to know your thoughts on whether India is really on the track to become a super power in the near future? Below are my thoughts on why we might actually NOT become a super power soon, UNLESS we make an effort to root out the basic problems our society and country has. Do comment.

India will be a super power in the next 15 years, they say, but will it really? With growing insecurity, casteism , crime against women, poverty and the complete apathy towards the public by the political class, are we really going to be a super power? If a nation has to be called a super power, the people of the nation have to be empowered , and have to be provided atleast the basic needs and security. The way our government and politicians work, do not give confidence to me. But then we also need to think, whether we as a society are ready to take the nation ahead in its path to become a super power. Again the confidence is not very strong. Let me give you a few examples.

With the caste system so prevalent in our country, we are not able to think forward without the blinders of caste put onto our eyes. The politicos are more hell bent on treating them as vote bank, rather than eradicating it. People are still considered untouchables here. People are still not allowed into temples. The so called lower castes are not allowed to drink water from the village wells. We have entire villages being burnt down and people killed in the name of caste. Are we really going to be a super power

But seriously, on what qualifications should he be made the PM? Apart from the fact that he belongs to the Nehru clan what other qualifications does he have? Is congress so much out of senior leaders that they would want rahul as a PM? Other than popping up in the media when the elections are nearing what has he done to the country?? Really the congress should change its name to something thats more relevant to their thoughts… Like “nehru party”

Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Rahul Gandhi would be able to give leadership if he became the Prime Minister as the younger generation could do so. “When Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister she was not 50. Even Rajiv Gandhi took over as the PM before he turned 40. If Rahul Gandhi becomes the Prime Minister, he will certainly give able leadership to the country and there is no doubt in it,” Mukherjee said during an interview with a Bengali news channel.

I guess Pranab Mukherjee could wait for a couple of years and then make either priyankas or rahuls child as the prime minister that way they would be more younger than Indira or Rajiv gandhi

“Campaigning for her family, Priyanka was also asked about her brother Rahul Gandhi often referred to as the Prime Minister in waiting, and she gave Rahul a big thumbs for the top job.

“The next PM is hopefully going to be Manmohan Singh. But I have full faith in my brother. He’s hard working and means well. And he’s according to me qualified. I’m sure one day he will, and will do a good job,” said Priyanka.

Hell yes he is qualified, he was born in the nehru clan after all. What more qualification do you need to become the PM of this country.

Why cant we have such raids in India. Why is that the police go behind the terrorists only after thety have created havoc. In case there is a news of a terror attack they should go full throttle and raid the suspected places. I dont think any Indian would be averse to that…….or would they?

London: British police on Wednesday arrested 12 men in a series of anti-terrorist raids involving hundreds of officers across northwest England.

Greater Manchester Police said the suspects were detained under the Terrorism Act at eight addresses in the cities of Manchester and Liverpool and the surrounding area, about 200 miles (320 kilometres) northwest of London.

Police were searching several properties, including an Internet cafe, in the working-class Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, which has a large south Asian community.

Witnesses said another raid was at Liverpool’s John Moores University.

Sky News broadcast the mobile phone video and still images of the university raid.

Police said the suspects ranged in age from a youth in his mid-teens to a 41-year-old man but would not give any details of the alleged plot.

The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that most of those arrested were Pakistani nationals but the Associated Press had no independent confirmation of this.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, the country’s top law-and-order official, said she and the prime minister had been kept informed about the raids, but stressed that the decision to carry out the raids had been “an operational decision for the police and the security services”.

Police would not confirm reports in British the media that the arrests were triggered after a senior officer inadvertently leaked details of a secret anti-terrorism operation.

After the spectacle of death on a reality tv show, we now have a a marriage on cards , er… remote. Rakhi Sawant will now choose her groom on reality tv. Some people and some channels are just out of the world. Hope NDTV stops at just showing the search and the ceremony and not the ….ahem ….. well you know what i mean. Really some people just dont have a limit to what they would do to get some publicity…and some channels would dish out anything for TRP ratings. Bravo NDTV and Rakhi.

Welcome to Rakhi Sawant’s Swayamvar. In what promises to be a first of its kind experience on television, Bollywood’s hottest item girl has chosen to search for her real life-partner on NDTV Imagine’s new reality show Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. The nationwide search for the perfect husband will culminate in a grand wedding where Rakhi will tie the knot.

So what are you waiting for? Tell us what Rakhi should be looking for in her life partner.

Better still, if you think you are Mr Right for the Mirchi babe then propose to her online. Who knows you might be the one to sweep Rakhi off her feet!

Amid burgeoning defence and trade ties, sympathy for Israel has also seen an unprecedented growth in India, where the Jewish state enjoys the highest level of support, pushing theUnited States to the second position, according to a study.

The study commissioned by Israel’s foreign ministry and conducted by an international market research company has shown that 58 per cent of Indians are sympathetic towards Israel, compared to 56 per cent in the US, daily ‘Yediot Ahronoth’ reported.

The study was undertaken as part of the “Branding Israel” project and aimed at looking into Israel’s international stature at what researchers characterised as the world’s 13 most important countries, including the US, Canada, Britain, France, China and Russia.

Other countries that showed significant sympathy towards Israel included Russia (52 per cent), Mexico (52 per cent), and China (50 per cent).

While Britain (34 per cent), France (27 per cent) and Spain (23 per cent) emerged as the least sympathetic countries towards the Jewish state.

If the police had not acted promptly to arrest the real culprits, the whole secular lot of “polticos, mainstream media and intellectuals” would have bayed for the blood of the BJP government in Karnatake. Am also wondering why the church authorities arent saying something?? or did their plan backfire? Below is the link where you can see news along with the photographs of the “church goers”

Mangalore, Mar 19: In connection with indulging in rampage in a banana plantation belonging to Babbukatte Nityadhar Church and trying to disrupt peace in the region, Ullal policemen arrested seven persons on Wednesday March 18.

They are Jayson Verghese (23), Vijit Sunny Rozario (21), Araki Alfred (20), Roshan Cutinho (26), all from Nityadhar Nagar and Ronald Roshan (22), a resident of Kuttar Prakash Nagar. They were produced in the court on Wednesday.

On Monday morning, the banana plantation was found to have been damaged heavily to look as if people belonging to a particular community had barged into the plantation, and a saffron flag had been planted there, signifying that Hindu outfits had been involved with the destruction. The incident took place at a time when Hindu Samajotsav was being organized in the city.

The policemen said that during interrogation, the arrested persons revealed, they wanted to disturb the peace in the region by projecting the incident as a handiwork of a particular community.

While making inquiries about those who inflicted the above damage, the policemen could by chance, lay their hands on the two accused, who had burnt down a motor bike on November 30 near Pandit House. Joy D’Souza (20) and Calvin Johnson D’Souza, from Nityadhar Nagar, accused of this act, were arrested and produced in the court on Wednesday. The policemen are also looking at the possibility of these two having been also involved with the destruction of the banana plantation.

Under the guidance of the city rural inspector Lingappa Poojary, Ullal sub-inspector of police Shivprakash has been conducting investigation.

This is great news for the LeT. Now they can stop training people in muridke and then send them to India. Its too much of a hassle you see. infiltration, security forces etc. In india there is no problem at all and they might even get the support of the politicians.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A terror brigade of 185 Keralites was selected by the Lashkar- e-Toiba and provided preliminary training at camps conducted in various centres in Kannur and Ernakulam. The Special Investigation Team probing the terror link to Kerala obtained this shocking piece of information from three Kashmiri youngsters.

Yasin, Fayaz, Shakeer alias Rahim and Fayiz who were killed in encounters with police in Kashmir and Abdul Jabbar, who had escaped the scene, constituted the pilot team sent by Kerala terror gurus to Kashmir.

These three youngsters took part in the terror camp organised by LeT in Kupwara and Dorusa forest areas in Kashmir during October last year, along with the five-member team from Kerala. The Lashkar camp had 17 members, including seven Pakistanis and three Kashmiris.

“The Malayalis joined the camp in the second week of September.Shakeer alias Rahim was their leader. He could speak Urdu,” said Fiaz Ahammed.

According to Sajad Ahammed Reshi, the five Keralites, who had attended the terror training, wanted to go to Pakistan and get advanced training in weaponry. “Their plan was to go back to Kerala after being trained in Pakistan and engage in terrorist and anti-national activities,” he deposed before the police.

Shabbir Ahammed Tali told the police that 180 more youngsters were waiting in Kerala after the preliminary training to join Jihad. “One Ustad had indoctrinated them,” said Tali.The SIT officers had crosschecked this information with Fiaz Ahammed and Reshi who said they had also known it. The police guess that the Ustad they were referring to was Haji Ustad alias Thadiyantavide Nazir Haji, who is absconding.

And I thought that the saffron brigade was the one to be blamed for spreading rumors that the church involves in conversions “by any means”.

BANGALORE: In a revelation that could have widespread ramifications, Father Joseph Menengis, priest of St James Church in Mariyannapalya, Bangalore, confessed before the Justice B K Somashekara Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday that idol worship was being performed in churches to attract Hindus and convert them to Christianity.

The Commission is inquiring into the recent attacks on churches in Karnataka.“Hindus believe in idol worship. So to attract them to Christianity, idol worship is performed in churches,” Menengis said.

During cross-examination, the priest said that “despite idol worship being prohibited in Bible, we have idol worship in churches.”“The duty of every Christian is to convert non-Christians to Christianity by any means,” the priest told the commission.

St James Church was attacked by miscreants on September 21, 2008.The church is running co-education institutions, with classes from first to eight standard.

During cross-examination the priest confessed that “no girl students are permitted to use kumkum, bangles and wear flowers. In our institution, we have moral science textbook.But it does not contain texts regarding Holy Bible and Jesus,” the priest added.The commission has requested the priest to submit the textbook to it.

Clashes over a holi colors splashed on the wall of a mosque. The color should not have been splashed on the walls, and also the retort should not have been throwing stones on a locality. I think we can be a bit more accomodative….or may be not, its India after all.

Two persons were killed and at least 14 others, including half a dozen policemen, injured on Wednesday as police opened fire to disperse members of two communities who clashed in Varanasi during Holi celebrations.

SSP Varanasi P C Meena said police opened fire to quell violence that broke out during Holi celebrations near Gausiya Masjid in Bajardiha locality under the Bhelupur police station in Varanasi.

Those killed have been identified as Shafikur and Md Moin of Bajardiha area. Their bodies have been sent for postmortem.

“Trouble started after some Muslim youth saw a splash of colour on the wall of the Gausia mosque and they pelted stones on a nearby Hindu locality. Police immediately swung into action and surrounded the area and fired teargas to control the situation,” Meena said.

By shooting an eight year old kid for pouring color on him, this mad man (fisherman with a gun??? Sounds a bit suspicious too) took humanity to ridiculous depths. I will not be surprised if we have people defending Mohammad Rashid saying that the kid was trying to impose her religion on him in the pretext of holi with the help of the “saffron brigade”.

Long live india and its “secularism”.

Shahdol (MP): An eight-year-old girl was on Wednesday shot at and injured by a person allegedly peeved over her for pouring colour over him on the occasion of Holi at Parmaniya Khurd village here, police said.

Shelly Gupta suffered bullet injuries in both her legs when a fisherman, Mohammad Rashid of Singpur village, opened fire with his gun at a group of children celebrating Holi as they had supposedly sprayed him with colours, Kotwali Police Station In-charge Vijay Pratap Singh told PTI.

She was admitted to the Shahdol District Hospital for treatment where her condition was stated to be out of danger,he said.

Hearing gunshots, the villagers gathered and beat up Rashid and later handed him over to police, Singh said.

About

A peek into a land called India.

A land where we have minorities as those people who are similar in almost everything to the majority, except for the way they pray to god. Still we are looking at reservations for them. A country where the “lower caste” is given reservations to liberate them from the oppression, and the one who benefit from the reservations are the politicians and the “lower caste” people who are already liberated and flush with money. A country where women are revered in temples, while being oppressed immediately outside the steps of the temple. A country where people watch the full coverage of the swearing in ceremony of the US president, while they probably don’t know who our president is and for sure dot know who our vice president is.

A country inspite of all its problems is on the verge of becoming a global power. (So they say)